Imo tills the land again

IT made a big splash when it tilled the soil. Its people were well-fed. There were jobs and a lot of cash from the export of some of its produce.

That was the profile of Imo State’s agriculture programme of which AdaPalm was the flagship. But, then, all was lost.

Thankfully, the state is finding its way back to the farm, and the people have the Rochas Okorocha administration to thank for that.

In the last two and half years, the administration has breathed life into the state’s abandoned agro-based industries. Palms are coming alive and you can now see large expanse of land devoted to comprehensive farming. Again, AdaPalm leads in the revival plan.

The palm plantation, unarguably one of the largest in Africa, was established by the then Premier of the Eastern Region, Dr Michael Okpara.

A sprawling 4,310 hectares of fully grown palms, it started as a farm settlement in Ohaji/Egbema Local Government Area, but was later incorporated in 1976 into the Agricultural Development Authority (ADA). It was run by the Europeans until 1987 when it was indigenised.

The plantation, apart from having the capacity of milling and processing very large quantities of palm oil for sale, also engaged in soap making and production of all kinds of industrial oil and animal feed, among others.

During the Sam Mbakwe administration, the industry witnessed a massive transformation and enhanced productivity as it adequately created employment for the teeming population of the state and gave a boost to its economy.

But thereafter, successive administrations abandoned the industry and relied heavily on the derivations from oil, which resulted in the comatose state of the only agro-based industry in the state. This resulted in thousands of workers losing their means of livelihood.

The industry was totally grounded, while the management took the advantage of government’s seeming lack of interest to enrich themselves.

Piqued by this awful state of the industry, Governor Okorocha declared his determination to revive it. To actualise the dream, he leased it out to Roche, an Irish investor for 15 years at the sum of N3.2 billion.

The decision of the governor to re-engineer the industry was part of his promises to the people of the state during his electioneering campaigns.

The Okorocha administration is targeted 4,000 jobs upon full rehabilitation of the company. Although this is yet to be achieved, available indices indicate that the company has gradually bounced back to full capacity.

The Managing Director of the company, Neil Andrew Danby regretted that such huge investments were abandoned for the past 20 years, even as he assured that with the new management on board, the company will soon regain its past glory.

He said the production level has dropped drastically as a result of poor state of the mill which resulted from years of neglect. He added that the palm trees are at the end of their lifespan and would continue to reduce in volume and quality in the next five years.

He further revealed that the company has commenced an aggressive replanting programme which must be completed within a three-year period. He added that the company has six years from now to replace the aged trees, noting that over 84,000 improved seedlings have been imported from Costa Rica.

On the area of employment, he said over 600 youths from the host community have been employed, assuring that more jobs through the micro-economic programmes would be initiated by the company.

The chairman of State House Committee on Agriculture, Hon. Luke Chukwu confirmed that serious transformation has taken place within the short period of take-over of the industry by the foreign firm.

He said the establishment of basket and broom making departments and other small- scale industries, has opened up more employment opportunities for the people of the state.

The Corporate Affairs Manager of the Industry, Mr. Asobieni Benjamin said despite the tremendous changes that have been experienced since the take-over of the plantation by the foreign firm, one major challenge facing the industry is the 18 months salary arrears owed workers by the previous management.

In a bid to encourage oil palm cultivation in the state, the governor recently flagged off the ikuana nkwu programme (meaning have you planted a palm). The programme which was conceived to ensure that every family in the state owns a palm plantation, according to the state government is to alleviate poverty in the state.

The Governor, while disbursing a take-off grant of N3.3 million to traditional rulers in each of the 637 communities of Imo State for cultivation of the new palm seedlings provided by government, urged all communities to cultivate at least 150 seedlings in every hectare of land and to establish oil mills in their localities to aid the harnessing of the palm fruits.